The Last Writer Story Submissions
by Akirys
Summary: This is a collection of oneshots and drabbles taking place in the ATLA/LOK universe, each following a different prompt or theme. All of them are submissions for the "Avatar: The Last Writer" competition. Latest story: "Hunting." Young Sokka and Katara try and hunt an arctic seal shortly after their father left the village.
1. The Moon Spirit

**A/N:**

 **Team: Air Nomads**

 **Round: Practice**

 **Category: Drabble**

 **Prompt: "Yue"**

 **Word count: 593**

~*Q*~

There wasn't much for Yue to do in her new role as the moon. Her breath caused the tides, and her ghostly essence caused the moon to shine. Spiritually, anyways.

Those things happened naturally. Beyond that, all Yue could do was watch. She watched the waterbenders, and her father, freeze in the North Pole; she watched children in the Earth Kingdom practice bending after dark, in private, away from their families and from the Fire Nation soldiers who might take them away; she watched over the Avatar and his friends. Or, that was her justification. She was mostly watching Sokka.

It was easy to lose sight of her old mortality after becoming something as great and powerful as Yue the Moon Spirit. Sokka was a line connecting her down to the earth. She held tightly to it, like she was seal-turtle-fishing back in her old home, and didn't let go even when the rope cut into her fingers and burned.

Because it wasn't easy watching Sokka move on. She supported him, of course! The Kyoshi warrior was a sweet girl, powerful, and she knew Sokka much better than Yue had come to in her few days spent with him. And yet, at the same time, it was hard to witness. She turned her face away, and the spiritual ones saw the moon go a little dark.

Her best moments were when Sokka sat outside his tent and stared up at the night sky. She had all the power to appear to him in those moments, but she didn't. It would shatter his illusion. He held onto the memory of her, a time when he'd acted at both his best and his worst, and it made him strong.

And all Yue did was watch.

Sokka came to sit with her (as she thought of it) less and less as time passed, which was good. But she couldn't deny that it made her feel lost. It was worst on days of the new moon, which were typically spent in the spirit world. She would find a place empty of other spirits and sit and stare out into the boundless sea beyond, and try to remember who she had been born as.

But beyond those moments, she was glad to have her role. She loved seeing the happiness the moon brought people in the Water Tribes. On nights when Yue decided to show off her power—tsunamis, whirlpools, unstoppable walls of water—she couldn't deny the thrill it gave her, having been a nonbender in her previous life.

Yue didn't interact personally with many people, the Avatar being an exception. But there were always times when she felt her presence was needed. She'd guided ships of lost waterbenders back home. She'd appeared before people seeking guidance from spirits, losing their way with reality.

And one night, she came before a young woman sitting outside a tent with a coat of white makeup still half on her face, twisting a ring nervously around her finger, and paralyzed at the prospect of the next day.

Yue materialized before her, all ivory ribbons and flowing gown, and the woman could only gape.

"Thank you," she told her. "Please, take good care of Sokka. He needs someone like you. He's not the brightest, sometimes, is he?"

"I…" Suki stammered.

"Tell him I wish him happiness in your marriage."

The moon left smears of light on Suki's face and hands as Yue faded away, leaving Suki still as a statue in the dark. The moon spirit retreated to the heavens, and kept watch.

 **~*Q*~**

 **A/N: Thank you for reading! I hope that all these little stories will be enjoyable even outside of the contest. Feel free to leave a review if you liked it.**

 **Captain of the Air Nomads, signing out!**

 **~*Akirys*~**


	2. Suki's Vacation

**Team: Air Nomads**

 **Round: Practice**

 **Category: Themed ("Discovery")**

 **Prompt: "Laughing"**

 **Word count: 3004**

 **~*Q*~**

Sokka liked to say that he'd loved Suki from the moment he'd laid eyes on her. Whether or not that was true - and it certainly hadn't been true on Suki's end - there was no denying that they made a great couple. The only problem was that Sokka found himself much more hilarious than Suki did. He had this endearing-annoying tendency to crack quips to fill in silence, make puns, talk about food, etc. etc. etc.

Suki, on the other hand, was a quiet girl. At least, she had been when she was younger. When it came time for her to lead the Kyoshi Warriors, she had to step up and speak up, because it was a lot harder to command the attention of a small militia when nobody could hear her instructions.

That was long before she met Sokka. Suki was happy to let him ramble on, and he made up for it in his sweet moments, his sincerity, and in his jokes that were actually funny.

Sokka and Suki were in the Fire Nation one day not long after the end of the Hundred-Year War. They were very near Piandao's mansion; Sokka had just gone and given his old master a visit. Piandao was happy to meet Suki, but his butler had shooed them out before Suki could suggest a sparring match. The master was still resting after taking back Ba Sing Se, he'd explained: all that running around conquering cities had made his back act up.

So Sokka had decided to take Suki to the top of the cliff Piandao showed him (the one he'd failed to draw. He still thought the rainbow he'd added was a bit of creative genius.) They sat together, in silence, holding hands as they let their feet dangle off the cliff.

"Are you having a nice time?" Sokka asked after a while, breaking the silence. He couldn't help it. He just wanted to make sure his girlfriend was doing okay.

"Of course, she said reassuringly. "It's my first break from training the Kyoshi Warriors in a while, you know. Ty Lee is learning, but she's a handful. But the other girls will be able to take care of her for a day."

"Bet you're glad I'm far away from Ty Lee, right?" Sokka said, elbowing her.

She snorted. "If Ty Lee flirts with you _one more time,_ I'm going to have to teach her a lesson. Unarmed and one-on-one."

"That'd keep any new recruits from joining."

They went back to silence, and Sokka went back to sneaking dreamy looks at her. Katara would laugh at him, but he was a hopeless romantic at heart. He loved everything about Suki: her smile, her talent at beating up bad guys, her warriors' ensemble. She was simultaneously the sweetest and most terrifying person he knew. The highlight of his day was when he could make her laugh.

Wait, uh...her laugh? Why didn't he know what it sounded like?

When was the last time he'd made Suki laugh?

"Suki, am I funny?" Sokka said immediately.

She took a few seconds to answer. "You're very...witty," she said tactfully. "And it's cute how passionate you get about your own jokes."

"Oh no," Sokka said in horror. It was true. He wasn't funny at all. What kind of boyfriend couldn't cheer up a girl with a couple of well-placed puns? Was his whole life a lie? Was Suki secretly miserable all the time and he hadn't even noticed because he was too busy writing quips on the bit of emergency sealskin parchment he carried at all times?

"Sokka, are you all right?" asked Suki.

Sokka sprang up so fast he nearly jumped off the cliff. Suki had to grab his leg. "Suki, we're going on a vacation!" he declared.

"What? We're not already?"

"Not the kind _I'm_ thinking of. We're going to the Earth Kingdom!"

"Why -" she started, but Sokka swept her up into his arms (and had to gracefully set her down a second later because she was too heavy).

"I'm taking you on a surprise destination," he declared. "We'll take the balloon home, and then ask Aang if we can borrow Appa! Let's go!"

He gave her a kiss, grabbed her hand and took off running down the side of the hill.

~*Q*~

"So why are we in Ba Sing Se?" Suki asked.

She was amused. Not in a lips-twitching kind of way, but she'd already settled in for the ride, as was important for anyone who wanted to be around Sokka for any length of time.

"You'll see, Suki. You'll see...oh hey, I see it! Yip yip!"

Appa swooped down to a spot just beyond the inner walls. He was not happy to be back in Ba Sing Se, and Aang hadn't been happy to let him go back either. Sokka had promised the both of them to feed Appa a whole bushel of those special Earth Kingdom-grown mangoes after after this.

"Ta daaaaa!" he declared as soon as Appa had touched down.

"A zoo?"

"Yeah, it's a petting zoo! Come on!"

The enclosure wasn't very well known, but Aang had confided its existence to Team Avatar...because he was the one who helped make it. The walls that kept the animals in were all homemade with Earthbending. There was a sign that brightly advertised the zoo's origin story, but Suki was kind of doubtful that the Avatar had _really_ caused a tornado to sweep up all the animals and land them here. Some things were probably exaggerated.

Sokka was already laughing as he pointed out three playful half-grown rabba-roos (the babies were called joey-kits). "Look at them! Cute, right?"

"Yeah," agreed Suki.

Sokka stopped laughing. "Wait, you don't like them?"

"No, I do. I said that."

"But you're not, you know, giggling."

"I'm a Kyoshi Warrior. Do you think I giggle at cute animals, Sokka?"

"Isn't tha -" He very nearly said "isn't that what girls do," but stopped when he realized he might literally be murdered in front of the cute baby animals. "No, no, point taken. Hey, let's go somewhere else!"

"But we just-" and Sokka was already dragging her back toward Appa, who was grumbling impatiently. Suki looked over her shoulder at the baby rabbaroos. Cute as they were, she would not let those little floppy ears and big eyes get the best of her. Then one of them sneezed, and she almost lost it.

~*Q*~

Stop 2. Earth Rumble VI.

Sokka wasn't actually sure if Suki liked wrestling, but he thought it might appeal to her to see people beating each other up with rocks. Sokka didn't take her to sit in the front seat this time around, since getting smashed by a boulder was not a laughing matter, but they still sat reasonably close so Sokka could yell and point to the wrestlers that he recognized from last time.

"That's The Gecko!" he shouted, pointing to the one who was currently battling Fire Nation Man. Fire Nation Man's gimmick had taken a hit when the Fire Nation ceased to be a bastion of evil, but he soared to new heights of popularity ever since he'd donned his new persona as Phoenix King Man. He was both one of the most and least popular wrestlers. "The Gecko got beaten up by Toph when all the wrestlers tried to kidnap us!"

"That's great, I guess?" Suki yelled back over the roar of the crowd.

Sokka noticed Suki still wasn't having much fun. "Suki, are you- Oh!" He gasped when Phoenix King Man took a swing at The Gecko. "Sorry. I was saying- WOO! BEAT HIM UP!" The Gecko had unleashed a spire of rock that launched the Phoenix King toward the roof of the arena. "I mean - I was asking if - YEAH! THAT'S HOW YOU DO IT! SENT DOWN IN FLAAAAMES!" The Phoenix King had tried to slow his fall with bird wings that sprang from his suit, but they failed miserably, and with an expert kick the Gecko sent a rock plummeting into his gut and propelling him out of bounds. Sokka, and half the wrestling fans in the arena, shot to their feet, screaming in excitement.

"Wow! This sport is _amazing!"_ Chuckling to himself, Sokka sat down and flung his arm around Suki's shoulders. "Are you enjoying yourself?"

"I sure am," Suki said, straight-faced.

~*Q*~

Sokka ended up having way more fun than Suki did. Thus, there was one more place he wanted to visit, and he was pulling out all the stops for it.

It was a long ways away. The sun was setting, and Appa kept adjusting his sore muscles so he could fly comfortably. Clouds streaked long shadows across Appa's back.

"It's getting late," Suki noted.

"Yep."

"You know where we're going, right?"

"I absolutely do. And this is going to be the best, most fun vacation you've _ever_ had."

"Sokka, you keep saying that," Suki sighed.

"Trust me! You're going to have _fun!"_ he insisted, but he was gripping Appa's reins tightly.

Suki scooted up until she was leaning against Sokka's shoulder. "Come on. Talk to me, please?"

He sighed. The reins went slack. "Okay. This whole vacation was because I was trying to find a place that would make you laugh."

"Make me laugh? Why?"

"I don't know! I realized I haven't heard you laugh much before, and I got worried that you haven't been having a good time. Or that you haven't been having a good...life. With me."

"Just because I don't find wrestling or, you know, _some_ of your jokes funny doesn't mean that I'm not having a good time. I like spending time with you."

"I just want to make sure you're happy," he said softly.

"I stopped laughing when I was promoted to captain of the Kyoshi Warriors," Suki reflected. "I was always kind of a serious kid, but when I joined the Kyoshi Warriors, I started realizing what would happen if we ever got invaded by the Fire Nation. It was up to us - to _me -_ to protect our whole village from being colonized. There was never a moment when I felt safe enough to let my guard down. Sometimes the situation is so dire that all the jokes just...stop. And that was how it was for me all the time. You understand what that's like, right, Sokka?"

"Yeah," he said quietly. He could think of a few instances.

"I hope I don't come off as standoffish," she admitted.

"No! You never have. Well, maybe you did when we first met and you tied us to a post."

That made her smile. "I remember those times. I never thought my life would change so much."

"Are you still up for visiting one last place?"

"Where are we going?"

"The circus!" Sokka declared.

"That place, huh? You really did plan ahead."

"I like discovering new things with you," he said fondly.

"Well then, I'm all for it. Yip yip!"

~*Q*~

Appa lurched sideways.

"Woah!" Sokka cried as Suki was thrown into him. "Appa, what is it?"

There was no stormy weather or sign of danger in the sky, but Appa started swerving and roaring with distress as soon as the circus came into view beneath them.

"Appa, Appa, it's okay." Suki dug her fingers into the sky bison's shaggy fur and scritched his head soothingly. "Take us down here, Sokka. Maybe Appa is tired."

Sokka did as she asked and landed Appa in an open field. He seemed fidgety and nervous, but when Sokka and Suki dismounted and told him to wait, he seemed to understand he didn't have to go anywhere, and he relaxed.

The two of them hiked down to the circus, which was just starting its show. Music wafted through the air, and colorful lights flashed inside the circus tent like fireflies swallowed by a badgerfrog.

Sokka and Suki found a seat in the front row. The theater was not as crowded as it seemed. It must have been having a slow night. The ringmaster was doing his best to generate interest, though. In a booming voice, he introduced each performer and animal as they came onstage.

Sokka tried not to worry about Suki too much. She was paying attention to the show, likely trying to spare Sokka's feelings, but she had also picked up a brochure off the empty seat next to them and was thumbing through it.

It was only when the lion-vultures started flying through fiery hoops that she noticed something was off. "That looks dangerous," she said, frowning.

"They must be trained well," Sokka said.

Suki kept squinting. "Those shackles…"

"Yeah, how often are the animals kept tied up like that?"

"It's more than that." Suki gasped. "Those shackles! Those are what Appa was tied up with!"

"Wait, what?!"

"When we found Appa while he was missing. He was chained. We had to cut them off."

"How do-" Sokka started to say, but Suki glanced down at her brochure, and her eyes went wide. Wordlessly, she showed Sokka an advertisement. It was a poorly drawn picture of Appa dressed in some kind of clowny getup. The captain read: "ESCAPED: Wind buffalo. Any information given on its whereabouts will be reward."

Sokka felt himself grow hot with anger. "I could have drawn a better poster than that!"

Suki's voice was shaky. "You should have seen Appa when we found him, Sokka. Hurt, starving, chained, and he was terrified of fire." She gazed at the fire hoops. "What did they _do to him?"_

Sokka stood up. "We can't let this place treat their animals like this."

"Way ahead of you," agreed Suki. From her sleeve, she pulled out a folded fan.

The ringmaster was performing his heart out, but it was an increasing struggle to hide his bitterness. It seemed that ever since he'd let that wind buffalo escape, he'd been the laughingstock of the biz. Audience turnout was dropping daily, too, since with the recent upending of the Fire Nation throne, everyone was in too much turmoil to go to circuses. Even the acrobats and freaks were getting increasingly more mutinous, since he was pushing them every night to do new and dangerous stunts.

Well, he didn't care. He'd make sure he didn't get protests from the animals he had left.

Just as the ringmaster opened his mouth, somebody in the front shouted "HEY!" Their voice rose above the flagging audience's cheers.

Suki was standing on the rail separating the audience from the stage. "Did you mistreat that sky bison?" she demanded.

The ringmaster gaped. "The wind buffalo? What of it, little girl? I—uh—" Then he noticed Sokka. "Hey! It's that boy who took down our fleets during the comet!" the audience's feeble clapping died down completely to be replaced by an explosion of shocked chatter.

"That's right!" Sokka yelled. "And we're about to take down something else!"

"Over my stone-cold body!" The ringmaster produced a fire whip and lashed it at the lion vultures dutifully performing their act. They screeched and veered off course, heading toward the nearest unarmed object—Sokka.

"Oh, great." Sokka dove for cover.

Meanwhile, Suki sprang from the rail and starting bounding up toward the ceiling of the tent. The audience applauded at her display of acrobatics as she grabbed the pole of a flaming hoop and bounded onto the nearest object, a trapeze, which she used to fling herself higher and higher.

The ringmaster was only getting angrier. "Attack him, you stupid animals!" Many Fire Nation citizens in the audience were still not sure how to feel about the Avatar's gang overthrowing their leader, but when the ringmaster started targeting Sokka with the fire whip directly, someone was angry enough to throw a baked apple at the ringmaster's head. That started a flood of people hurling food objects. The lion-vultures stopped chasing Sokka around the arena and started gobbling sizzle crisps and fried meat as they flew through the air.

Suki clung to a pole about ten feet below the peak of the circus tent. It was almost high enough, but everything above her was engulfed in flames. Pulling her second fan out, she beat the flames with enough force to snuff them out, using her legs to keep herself from falling. With a jump like a spidermonkey, she leaped onto its highest point, then propelled herself into the tent wall and jammed her fans into the fabric to slow her fall. There was a tremendous ripping noise as she started carving the tent in two.

"My circus!" the ringmaster screeched as the lion vultures flew threw the gap and vanished into the night sky.

That was when the funny side of the situation hit Suki.

"Thought you could run a business like this?" she yelled down at the ringmaster as she continued her descent. "A Kyoshi Warrior will never stand for injustice! Ha-ha-ha-haaaa!"

She threw both her fans at once, breaking through a beam at the top, and the entire tent collapsed.

Sokka was there to catch her as she fell to the ground like a wayward spider. They ran out the back of the circus toward the place the animals were kept. Sokka broke open their cages and stepped back to let them trample their way out while Suki dashed back into the madhouse where her weapons had fallen.

She came back a few minutes later, clutching her fans and giggling.

"You should see their faces, Sokka! The ringmaster is trying to go on with the act and everyone's leaving because the ceiling is falling. I've never done something like this before."

"I'll find someone to take care of the animals," Sokka offered. "You want to go on destroying the place?"

"Yes please!"

Walking away from the smoldering canvas, Sokka had a good view of his girlfriend laughing maniacally as she sliced the circus tent to shreds with her fans. And that was the discovery Sokka made about Suki that night. She had an _interesting_ sense of humor.

~*Q*~

 **A/N: Thanks for the super nice reviews on the last chapter, guys! I hope you like this one too. :)**

 **It's not too late to join the contest! We'd love to have you!**

 **~*Akirys*~**


	3. The Past, Untangled

**Team: Air Nomads**

 **Round: 1**

 **Category: Themed ("Betrayal")**

 **Prompt: "A wedding"**

 **Word count: 1,045**

~*Q*~

The only thing more unbelievable than Bolin being the ordainer of Korra and Asami's wedding is the fact that Mako doesn't have a part to play at all. And, for that, he can't help but feel a little betrayed.

Okay, strictly, that wasn't true. He'd tried approaching Asami about it, but she was in a panic trying to deal with the media attention over the big event. She asked him to do something simple, guard the caterers who were loading the trucks, and that somehow led to Mako grating carrots for three hours while cooks ran around shouting about how this was going to be the event of their LIVES, working for not only the wedding of the Avatar but of the head of the most successful technological innovation company in Republic City (and please hurry up with those carrots, young man, and don't waste too much of the peel.)

He had carrot under his fingernails for a solid twenty-four hours.

Even Pabu had a part to play. Pabu! He would be the ring bearer. Bolin—Bolin got to kick back and relax while that was going on, by the way—Bolin's main job besides officiating the marriage was to train Pabu to carry the rings down the aisle, which he soon became stellar at. There were no worries there.

Mako might have thought he would be a groomsman at Korra's wedding, but of course the girls only had bridesmaids. Korra picked Naga as the flower girl and enlisted Bolin to help with the polar bear dog's training, which he was probably working on somewhere now. She picked Lin as maid of honor (a surprise to everybody, especially Lin, who had to pretend not to be emotional) and Asami asked Jinorra to be hers, and the brides worked together to fill up the rest of the bridesmaid list with mutual friends of theirs: Opal, Ikki, Pema, Suyin, Kya…

Mako thinks he should be over it. Their past was ancient history. But his reasonable side isn't stopping him from approaching Korra directly.

Mako knocks on the door of Korra's apartment—a cozy, temporary place bought so she could be closer to Asami and her work.

"Who is it?"

"It's Mako," he says regretfully. She sounds so tired. "Sorry."

"It's fine. Come in."

Mako steps inside hesitantly. He finds Korra in front of her bedroom mirror, playing with her hair, trying to coil it in different styles. Hairpins stick out at odd angles.

"I'm trying to get a sense for how it should look," she says. "Did you know Zhu Li is great at hair? She's doing it the day of."

"One week, huh?"

"Yep."

"That's crazy. Asami isn't around?"

"She's in a business meeting," Korra says with a little, fond eye roll. "She'd probably work through the ceremony if she was able to. She needs a vacation."

"Good idea," jokes Mako. "After all, the last one turned out great, huh?"

Korra laughs. Her fingers are still caught in her hair, which has grown out to just above her shoulders, neither as short as the days of her "last" vacation nor as long as when Mako first met her. Mako realizes she's waiting to hear why he came to visit her. It makes him a little sad to know that he no longer doesn't need a reason.

"I wanted to know how you're holding up," he finally says. "Any pre-wedding jitters?"

"Oh, plenty. But you know. How's, uh...how's you?"

"I'm fine. I mean—uh—" Mako stutters a bit and then decides to just go for it. "Look, I've been feeling really bad, and I came to apologize."

"For what?"

"For, you know. How I treated you."

"Oh." Korra sets her hairpins down. So that's what this is. "It's fine, Mako, really. Asami and I just individually decided we liked you better as a friend, is all."

"And...I mean...I feel a little betrayed?"

" _Betrayed?"_

"It's stupid, I know! But there's some part of me that feels—I don't know, as if it's mad at you that we didn't try harder. Stick it out for longer."

"We were teenagers, Mako," Korra says with a look of nostalgic disdain (she really hates looking back on some of the things she'd done). "I was stupid. You were stupid. Asami was smart, though. Still not sure how she did it."

"She was pretty incredible."

"She is. Yeah."

"I think my problem is that I've always just wanted to be there for you. And, lately, I can definitely tell you don't need me at all. I mean—" he gestures vaguely around the apartment—"you're certainly doing well for yourself. I'm probably just bitter because I haven't been around to protect you."

"Psssh. Protect me from what? Admit it, I _never_ needed you."

That both stings and makes Mako laugh. "You're right."

"Well, you know what? What I did need was a friend. I'm really glad I met you and Bolin, Mako, honest. I think my first few weeks in Republic City would have turned out a lot different otherwise."

"And you don't think you've replaced me with Asami or anything?"

"Of course not. You're both important to me."

"Then I'm sorry," Mako mumbled. "And, for the record—I think it could have gone a lot worse. I'm just glad we're still friends."

"We definitely are," Korra says confidently. "And who knows? Maybe I'll come to your wedding someday, and you'll be with one of my old guy crushes from when I was fourteen."

"Korra!"

"Hey, what? Don't knock it til you try it."

Mako's face is as red as his old scarf, and Korra can't help but laugh at him. "Hey…" she asks, catching her breath, "how good are you at doing hair?"

"Almost certainly terrible."

"I like those odds. Can you help me?"

Life is strange, Korra thinks. Seventeen-year-old her would have had completely different ideas about what she wanted her wedding to be like. And she's almost certain that her plans would have included Mako at the altar. But instead, here he is, joking around and catching up with her as he struggles to follow Korra's directions with the hairpins. And it won't be him standing under the canopy with her, but Asami.

All in all, she thinks it's a nice direction to take.

~*Q*~

 **A/N: Oof, I'm glad this one is finally written! I got writers' blocked for the whole first week. Anyway, this is my story about finding the fluffiest variation of the theme of betrayal possible.**

 **I haven't written in present tense in ages, but part of what I want to do with these constant little contest stories is try some experimental writing.**

 **Leave a review if you liked it!**

 **~*Akirys*~**


	4. Manual Labor

**A/N:**

 **Team: Air Nomads**

 **Category: Drabble**

 **Prompt: "Jade"**

 **Word count: 650**

~*Q*~

Zuko was a very busy Fire Lord. He was of the opinion that, as the leader of a nation currently wracked with turmoil, he had to stay focused and vigilant in order to protect his people.

Iroh was a very busy tea shop manager. He was of the opinion that nephews had the duty to help out their uncles, especially when it came to manual labor. So that was how Zuko ended up back in civilian clothes at the Jasmine Dragon.

His royal guard almost refused to leave him alone, but he'd managed to shake them off by convincing Mai to accompany him. She scared _everyone_ when she wanted to.

The second Zuko and Mai approached the tea shop, Iroh bustled out. "Ah, it is so good to see you! Thank you for coming to give this old man some help." Seemingly within seconds, he'd handed them bristly brushes and wooden buckets full of dull green paint.

"I thought the Jasmine Dragon needed a makeover," Iroh said, beaming. "And jade was the perfect color! You can start on the outside walls!"

"Wait, wha—" said Zuko, but Iroh was already hurrying back to take care of a customer inside the shop.

Mai held up a brush and distastefully watched jade paint drip off it. "Have you ever even done this before?"

"Not at all.

"You owe me big time."

And that was the start of Zuko and Mai's Home Makeover. The Jasmine Dragon was not a large building, but it still took four hours of work to cover the walls completely, with frequent stops inside for paint refills and tea cakes. Mai was a neat painter, but slow, since sometimes she could hardly bother to lift her brush. Zuko tried valiantly, but he scraped and splotched the paint, so an entire wall had clearly uneven paint strokes like a puma cat covered in green paint had rubbed itself all over the building.

"Let's see," Iroh said as he went outside to examine their work. Zuko and Mai stood back. They were hot and tired and covered in jade paint. "Well….it's the thought that counts, my nephew and niece-in-law! Come in for some tea."

The tea was another ploy, since Iroh sprung even more work on them. He had all sorts of ideas for the interior of the shop. He gave Zuko and Mai some pretty glassblown jade covers to put over the hanging lights, but the green glow they gave the place ended up looking sickly as a dragon's den, so they had to take them off.

"Hey!" an Earth Kingdom citizen said while Zuko stood on a table, trying to yank the cover off, and Mai leaned her elbow on the table to prevent it from tipping over. "Aren't you Fire Lord Zuko?"

"Uhhh...I might be," Zuko said.

"Hey, everyone! It's—"

"No, no! I'm here on…a secret mission as an ambassador. If you call attention to me, everything could be ruined. Walk away now!"

Mai gave the citizen a threatening side-eye. He left. At the door, Iroh gave him a thumbs up and slid him an advertisement for the tea shop.

It was sundown by the time Zuko and Mai finished their labor. The whole afternoon had been spent painting stencils on the the walls, welding metal flowers to things, sweeping jade glitter into the floorboards, and whatever other task Iroh could cook up.

At the end of the day, Zuko and Mai stood outside to admire their work.

"Not bad for a couple of pampered rich people," said Mai.

"Yeah. Ready to go home?"

"Of course I am," Mai said, rolling her eyes. "This is not my idea of quality time with my fiancé."

"Not mine either," Zuko said, putting his arm around her shoulders. "But I haven't spent time alone with you in a while. "That was nice, right?"

"Sap," muttered Mai, but she was smiling.

~*Q*~

 **A/N: This one was fun! I hope you liked it :D**

 **~*Akirys*~**


	5. Flower Fluff

**A/N:**

 **Team: Air Nomads**

 **Round: 2**

 **Category: Drabble**

 **Prompt: "Order"**

 **Word count: 630**

~*Q*~

It wasn't easy being a pillar of enlightenment when her two younger siblings were beings formed straight from the primordial maelstrom of chaos. Meelo was nine now, Jinora thought, and he should have known better, but he acted as though he were a little toddler. He liked shouting and wrestling and being obscene. Ikki was better in volume of speech but far worse in quantity. She never ever stopped talking. Or, to put it like Ikki would, never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever….

Jinora knelt before Rohan, who, unlike Meelo had been at his age of three-and-a-half, was content to sit quietly and play with a handful of flowers.

"I'm gonna need your support for this," Jinora told him quietly. "Right now, Meelo and Ikki outnumber me. Don't join their ranks, okay?"

"Ji! Look!"

"What—oh. It's some petals. Good job, Rohan. Do you want a flower crown?"

"I like fowers!"

"Okay. I'll make you one."

When Ikki was younger, she begged Jinora for a flower crown nearly every day. She kept every one of them until there were stacks of dead brown plants in her room and their mother had to intervene. It had been a while, but the skill of weaving the stems together had not left Jinora.

"Look how nice and quiet we're being," Jinora said, talking softly. "See, we're having fun, right?"

"I haf fun. Immaking fowers."

"Exactly."

When she was done, Jinora placed the crown on Rohan's head. He was delighted by it and immediately wanted to make another of his own. Jinora helped Rohan's clumsy fingers through the motions. He kept breaking the stems.

The sun shone and the wind whistled through the pillars of Air Temple Island. Far away, Jinora could hear the shouts of the Air Acolytes and, yes, Ikki as they went through the motions of their training.

"This is better than practice," Jinora told Rohan, which made her feel a little guilty, since she was the one with the tattoos and all. "I mean, airbending is fine, but it's the spiritual connection that counts, right?"

"Airbending….slice!"

"Who taught you that? Meelo? Don't listen to him. Leaf in the…"

"Win! Leaf in the win."

"That's it! Be the leaf."

Rohan reached up and placed the crown on her head. It sprung apart immediately. Jinora gently reached up to adjust it.

"Of course, airbending is all about wind patterns," Jinora muttered. "After all, you can't 'be the leaf' if you're not willing to adjust to the push and pull. Ikki is pretty good at that."

"Ikki?"

"Dad always says that airbending is a philosophy...it should teach you how to view other people. We have to learn to accept all kinds of influence, especially since there's so few of us. But we've only remembered our culture by sticking to its rules so closely. That's why it's a little weird, having so many acolytes."

"Ikki? Ikki?"

"Since I have my tattoos, this is something I should know already, right? I don't know...I guess, if Dad is still learning, it's okay if I am too. Airbending is so weird. Chaos and order. You have to be flexible."

"Ji, wanna go Ikki!"

"Oh! Where are you going? You want to find Ikki?" Rohan toddled off, and Jinora stood up to follow him closely. "Okay, let's find her. She's this way. Want me to carry you?"

"Yeah!"

"Okay." Jinora hefted Rohan onto her hip. "Just remember what we talked about, little bro. There has to be some kind of order in this house."

Later, at dinner, Ikki told Jinora that she still had flower petals in her hair. Jinora almost brushed them out, but when she realized she and Rohan matched, she decided to keep them in for the rest of the night.

~*Q*~


	6. Song and the Ostrich Horse

**A/N:**

 **Team: Air Nomads**

 **Round: 2**

 **Category: Themed**

 **Prompt: "Saddle"**

 **Word Count: 908**

 _I know you don't think there's any hope left in the world, but there is hope._

 _Those_ were the last words Song had said to Lee "Junior," the mysterious stranger who'd stopped by with his uncle months ago, looking for medicine and a warm meal, and had promptly stolen their ostrich horse. She had been more naive when it happened, but she liked to think she was older and wiser nowadays. She looked back on that night with a fair amount of embarrassment, even resentment.

There was also the fact that Lee turned out to be the Crown Prince Zuko (and, later, Fire Lord) himself.

She and her mother couldn't believe it when they first saw the papers. It was days after Sozin's Comet. News usually took some time to travel to their small village, but this was spreading—no pun intended, but like wildfire. A devastating attack from Fire Lord Ozai had been stopped in its tracks by none other than the Avatar and his friends.

Posters of all involved were drawn en masse so that everyone in the Earth Kingdom could hang the visages of their new heroes in their homes for luck. When Song saw the one for Fire Lord Zuko, she almost screamed. There was absolutely no mistaking that scar. Mushi's poster was less popular, but he was quickly identified as Iroh, savior of Ba Sing Se, along with several other older men who Song frankly was not concerned with, because wait, _this_ was the man whose hand she'd slapped because he couldn't stop scratching at his white jade flower rash?

The strangest part of all was that Song wasn't alone in her experiences. Apparently, Zuko and Iroh had been travelers throughout the Earth Kingdom for a few months, and now everyone was claiming to have recognized the young man with the angry red burn mark over one eye. The stories ranged from believable glimpses at the Jasmine Dragon, the tea shop in Ba Sing Se where Iroh now resided, to absurd tales of having their lives rescued by the young prince, or getting attacked by him, or even going out on dates with him.

Song and her mother received some questioning too. Everybody at the village hospital had seen them invite Zuko and Iroh home, after all. But the only thing Song was sure of was that the prince had spoken with her in private, he'd seen her scar, and then he'd stolen her ostrich horse and ridden away.

She hadn't been overly attached to that ostrich horse. His name was Bomi. Admittedly, her mother didn't have cause to go many places, so he had spent most of his days pecking about in the stable. But the eggs were a nice treat.

Song liked to sit in the stable and think during her moments of spare time. The only decoration inside was an extra saddle that Zuko apparently hadn't found fit to steal. Sometimes she wondered why nothing had changed—many of the villagers were still poor, and the feeling of being under constant threat hadn't vanished overnight. She was grateful that the Earth Kingdom hadn't been destroyed or anything, but she couldn't deny that she was still scared.

"I knew the Avatar would save us," Song told her mother one night at dinner. The subject came up because they were having roast duck. "I just didn't think about what would happen after."

"You just need to have hope," her mother said. She was an optimistic woman too, and she still believed that Song's father might return someday, especially now that the war was over. Maybe that was why she still made too much roast duck.

"Why don't you clean out the stable?" Song's mother suggested. "I've been thinking of getting us a new ostrich horse, or maybe some pickens. It would be nice to add a little more life to this house, right?"

"Sure, Mom."

Song picked up a wooden bucket and a rag and went outside to wipe the dust off the walls. Halfway there, she froze. What was that sound?

When she rounded the corner to see an ostrich horse standing patiently by the stable, a rope attaching it to the post, her rag and bucket thudded from her hands. Her bare feet flew across the rocky ground as she raced toward it.

The first thing Song did was examine the ostrich horse closely. She was a pretty young one, older than a colt but not quite full-grown. She looked well groomed and clean. And whoever had put her there had taken the empty saddle off the wall and placed it on her back.

Song looked around in wild confusion, but there was nobody in sight. There was no way, but...could this be the Fire Lord repaying his debts?

She nearly took the animal out right then and there and rode off to track the culprit down, but then she saw a note tucked beneath the saddle, fluttering slightly in the breeze. She pulled it out and unfolded it carefully.

 _Please accept this gift as thanks for your help. I would have named her Hope, but the Avatar told me that name has already been taken._

There was no signature, but Song didn't think that was necessary. She sank down against the stable wall and cried, and then laughed hysterically.

There was definitely hope in the world. Sometimes, it came in strange places, like in the form of an ostrich horse.

~*Q*~


	7. Hunting

**A/N:**

 **Team: Air Nomads**

 **Round: 3**

 **Category: Drabble**

 **Prompt: "Can you come up with an actual idea?"**

 **Word count: 645**

 **~*Q*~**

"There it is," Sokka whispered. "Get down!"

Obediently, his sister, Katara, age nine, crouched lower into the snow. Ten-year-old Sokka narrowed his eyes at the the artic seal peacefully dozing next to a hole in the ice.

"Okay, you can watch, but you can't make a sound," Sokka hissed to Katara. "Dad told me they can sense vibrations. So I don't want some girl messing it up!"

"I'm not 'some girl!' I'm your sister!"

"Fine, fine! Just let me hunt."

Katara huffed and sank down behind the snow pile she used as cover. Sokka hefted the too-big harpoon and aimed at the arctic seal, closing one eye. Carefully...and... _now!_

The harpoon swished through the air and cracked onto the ice, skidding forward violently. With a couple of terrified yaps, the arctic seal wiggled into the water and darted off, visible only as a blot beneath the ice.

"Darn it!" Sokka stomped his foot. "I _almost_ had it."

Katara popped up from her hiding place quick as a snow weasel. "You missed! Can it be my turn next time?"

"No! You don't understand, Katara. This is a guys' thing. You're too little, anyway."

"I'm not! I'm old enough to help!"

"No, listen to me," Sokka growled. "I need to get meat back to the village. Now that-now that Dad and the others are gone, we might run out of food."

"Gramma said we could pick snowberries and raise our own arctic hens, though," Katara said fearfully.

"She's just trying to make you feel better," Sokka said dismissively.

"Then I wanna help!" Katara leaped for the harpoon, and Sokka fended her off.

"Stop it! What makes you think you could do better than me?"

"I can waterbend," Katara bragged, puffing out her chest.

"Please. You were trying for _hours_ yesterday."

"Well...shut up!" Katara yanked the harpoon from Sokka, ignoring his yell of 'Careful, that's sharp!' She started to slip across the ice in the direction of the seal.

"Katara!" Sokka scolded. He followed her, trying not to fall, and kept pace with his shorter sister easily. Katara tried to keep marching forward. As she got progressively more angry, her purchase on the ice grew more steady. It was actually melting to form a grip around her feet.

Sokka caught up to her and grabbed her shoulder, forcing her to turn around. "Don't just run off! Can you come up with an actual idea?"

"I was gonna waterbend," Katara muttered.

"How, exactly? Stab it with an icicle?"

Katara deflated when she realized the holes harpooned into her plan. "I just wanted to help…"

Sokka put his face in his mittens and sighed. His frozen breath gushed through his fingers. "Look, I get it. But it's not going to help us if I have to fish up my sister." He pointed to the melted ice beneath Katara's feet.

She gasped a little when she saw it and shuffled to the side. Only when she was on safer ground did she look up with fear in her wide blue eyes. "Sokka...I'm scared. Of what's gonna happen to our village."

"...Me too," Sokka admitted. "But one day, I'm gonna be the best warrior in the South Pole. And you're gonna...play around some more with your weird fish magic, I guess."

"You saw it, though, Sokka!" Katara bounced on her heels. "I made the ice move! I did it!"

"Yeah, yeah. Now, quiet a moment." Sokka knelt down next to the patch of thin ice, studying a mass of familiar shapes that floated just beneath the surface. His face lit up. "Hey...those are sea prunes! Nice going, Katara! We can harvest those if you break down the rest of the ice."

"What about the seal?" Katara asked, already crouching down.

"We'll get it next time." Sokka patted her shoulder. "I think letting you take care of this is a much better idea."

 **~*Q*~**

 **A/N: Finally uploading an entry before the day of! WHOOPS! Maybe next time the themed story will be done at a reasonable time too am i right**

 ***Akirys*~**


	8. Little Brother

**A/N:**

 **Team: Air Nomads**

 **Round: 3**

 **Category: Themed**

 **Prompt: "Ozai"**

 **Word count: 1369**

~*Q*~

When Ozai was twelve, his elder brother Iroh was already a man of thirty-two, an age that made him untouchable. While Ozai was seething over the demands of his tutors, Iroh was a general in the Great War. Ozai was in the palace burning holes in targets while Iroh was already known throughout the nation as one of the greatest firebenders of their time, maybe even as good as their father.

It would have been easier if Iroh had the same stern, aloof attitude toward him as Azulon, but Iroh was nothing but friendly and warm toward his little brother—almost disconcertingly so. He did not fit the image Ozai had in his mind of a war general in his prime. But he bit his tongue, since Iroh was frightening in the rare times Ozai had seen him angry.

It was summer, and Iroh had returned on leave from the army. Though it was easy to forget, he was also the Crown Prince. He had to keep up with the affairs of the nation.

Ozai was practicing firebending in the garden when Iroh approached him. At first, Ozai barely paid him any mind. Lately, he had been more focused than ever on his firebending training. He did not want to be known all his life as the Fire Lord's little brother. If he was going to start making a name for himself, it had to be now. Powerful flames, longer than he was tall, washed over the pond as he attacked.

"Ozai?" Iroh interrupted.

Ozai took a step back and ended his movements, never breaking from the formation his firebending sifu had taught him. "Hello, brother."

"Your firebending has improved, but you are much too stiff. The best firebending comes from the lungs, not the fists."

"I understand. I will improve in the future," Ozai responded tonelessly.

"Oh, I'm just kidding! What kind of brother would criticize you after not seeing you for months?" Iroh nudged him playfully. "Little brother! It is good to see you."

"As with you, Prince Iroh."

"None of that. Who taped a stick to your spine, huh?"

"I'm only trying to be appropriate," Ozai mumbled, feeling scolded. "How is your business?"

"Fine, fine. Come with me and have some tea, won't you?"

"I had actually better finish my training."

"Please," said Iroh, and he put his hand on Ozai's shoulder until he was looking his brother in the eye. "I insist. I would like to speak with you."

Iroh poured tea into two cups, and Ozai took one and sipped it without really thinking. It was good, probably, but Ozai wasn't paying attention.

"It is actually nice to be back at the palace," Iroh said thoughtfully as he settled onto his knees. "The soldiers have been having a hard few months."

That made Ozai perk up his ears. "Is the war going well?" he asked. Not that he really believed the Fire Nation could lose, since they of course were the strongest in the world. But there was always a chance…

"Oh, we're progressing, I suppose. We're on the outskirts of the Earth Kingdom, nowhere near Omashu. And from what I've heard, the attack on the Southern Water Tribe is proceeding as expected."

"That's good."

"Yes. But there are some difficult decisions we must make soon."

Iroh pulled some rolls of parchment from his robes and spread them over their low table. "These are the decisions I must take to the war council later today," he whispered, glancing around their room to make sure no one was eavesdropping. "But I thought I'd give you a little test. Shall we see how you would fare as a general, little brother?"

"Of course," said Ozai, sitting up a little straighter.

"All right. This is your first situation." Iroh bent over one of the parchments and read: "Currently, our Thirtieth Division of soldiers is camped thirty miles east of Mah Jin, an Earth Kingdom settlement protected by a militia. Residing in Mah Jin are fifty captive Fire Nation soldiers. We must pass through Mah Jin to reach the villages beyond, but if we make a move, the earthbenders may harm their hostages. What is our course of action?"

Ozai tapped his fingers on his cup and thought. "Surround the town and destroy anyone who tries to leave. Cut it off from its resources. After seven days, when the townsfolk are weakened and fighting among themselves, ride through and burn it to the ground."

"That ignores the issue of the captives," Iroh argued.

"I know. I didn't forget. They just don't matter compared to the territory at stake."

"I see." Iroh looked on to the next parchment. "Well, here is another conundrum. In the Northern Water Tribe, many soldiers are suffering from the cold. Currently, our strategy is a secret infiltration through the northern wall, where their defenses are weakest. Our best firebenders are melting the ice in shifts. However, the cold is making their firebending unstable and weak, and there have been cases of soldiers collapsing halfway through their attacks. How should we proceed?"

"Put the incapacitated soldiers on the front lines and launch an attack on the opposite side," Ozai suggested. "Then use bombs and machinery to finish breaking through the wall. The chaos will distract from the infiltration, and then you can proceed to the palace."

"How clever of you," said Iroh. "Then, the last one is this. We are discussing an invasion of Ba Sing Se, but we might be years before we could attempt an attack with any chance of success. Where should we be concentrating our forces?"

"At Ba Sing Se, of course," said Ozai. "It's the largest city in the Earth Kingdom, and you have to take it down soon. No matter the cost!"

Iroh sighed. He went to work rolling up his parchments. "Brother, none of those answers were wise."

"What!"

"You are reckless, and you are still young. You need to learn the concept of sacrifice."

Ozai continued to kneel over the table, feeling sour. Finally, he muttered, "I was only suggesting what I thought was right."

"Yes. But there are more factors in war besides overwhelming the enemy." Iroh leaned forward. "Morale. Camaraderie. Trust. These things can impact a soldier's ability more than you know."

"Then what _are_ the right answers to those questions?"

"Truthfully, there are none. War is a tricky business. But we will discuss that at the war council." Iroh gave Ozai a joking smile. "Personally, I hope we can take it easy for the next few months. Then I can stay home and care for Lu Ten!"

"He's still a baby," Ozai blurted. "If you died in the war he wouldn't remember you."

Iroh looked startled, even hurt. "What possessed you to say that, little brother?"

"I don't _know_. It's just the truth."

"Well, I'll have you know I have no plans of dying any time soon...nor do most of the soldiers. You should not fight a war with an expectation to die, but an expectation to protect who you love. And I would very much like to protect my son."

Iroh stood up and stretched dramatically. Ozai reflexively stood too, still clutching his cup.

"Though...if I do die," said Iroh, and he suddenly looked more serious than Ozai had ever seen him, "will you promise to care for Lu Ten as best as you are able?"

Ozai thought about his baby nephew, who he'd only seen a handful of times, all soft and wrinkled with a tendency to kick everything in proximity. "Yes," he said softly.

"Thank you." Iroh smiled again. It seemed very genuine. "A sacrifice doesn't mean much if you are not protecting something of even greater value than yourself."

"I understand," Ozai said.

"Good. Then how about we go and practice your firebending? You can't be a master if you don't know how to breathe properly, can you?"

Ozai opened his mouth to argue, then looked at Iroh's face, a mask of brotherly love and wisdom. "I guess not. Let's go."

~*Q*~


End file.
